


A reason to hate

by Ka_she_who_lurks



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Violence, F/M, Gen, Hank Pym is a bad guy here, POV Howard Stark, as is Stark senior's old man, divorce in a period of time where that was still a bit more taboo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 03:12:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13989246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ka_she_who_lurks/pseuds/Ka_she_who_lurks
Summary: Why does Hank Pym hate Starks?Howard notices a thing and does something about it.





	A reason to hate

_"Starks, they're just no good."_

Howard shook Mrs. Pym-Van Dyne's hand cordially.  
A bit absentminded perhaps, after all, because while Janet did move in the same social circles as him, she was an acquaintance at best, and not in a position that made her sharp mind or vivaciousness an advantage to him, or really - knowing Hank Pym's type when it came to women - anyone at all.  
He did, however, meet her eyes, and there it was, the familiar sight of slightly too perfectly applied make-up trying to convince anyone looking that there wasn't a bruise underneath.  
His eyes flashed between her and her husband, took in the way her smile was a touch brittle before crystalizing into something radiantly bright and far more Janet-like. Took in the way she carefully didn't flinch from her husband.  
Howard pretended he hadn't noticed a thing and moved on towards the rest of the party.  
There was a reason he avoided his wife and son when he was in a mood. He might not know how to be a good parent, but he knew how what things to avoid to prevent becoming a bad one.  
Hank Pym, it seemed, was a man who had a thing or two in common with Howard's father.  
_But this time he wasn't powerless, was he?_  
He would... No, Howard was a man himself, she'd probably mistrust him to some extent.  
He glanced at Maria, who raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

 

_"It was just a little shove, she would have come to her senses and apologized, and everything would have gone fine."_

The sudden impact, not quite as shocking as the first few times, but still hard enough to fling her to the ground. The fear spiked, and turned to curdling dread as she looked up at her husband. She loved him, loved him still, but...  
She would be better off somewhere where she wasn't the target of his anger so often.  
He loomed over her, raised his fist, and Janet hoped and prayed that Hope would stay in her room

 

_"But no, that jackass saw her causing a scene and convinced her to get a divorce."_

Sobs, in the dark, carefully muffled. Howard turned on the light. Janet's face was startled close to panic for a fraction of a second, before warping into a smile.  
"Oh, hello, I hadn't noticed there was someone else coming in here." Her voice trembled only a little, and if it wasn't for her puffy eyes and tear-streaked make-up, the act might even have been convincing.

 

_"Made it so she wouldn't come back to me."_

Divorce was tricky. Divorce where the woman was allowed to keep her child and didn't end up impoverished even more so.  
Giving Janet a handful of tiny cameras and audio recorders turned out to be the key here. Maria was a treasure in figuring out the finicky emotional bits.  
It resulted in enough evidence to convince the jury, as well as enough gossip to make it the trail of the year.  
And while that raised a lot of fuss, it also resulted in there being sufficient sympathy for Janet van Dyne that justice would get done.

 

_"Never trust a Stark."_

Eventually, after years, Hope reached out because she wanted to get to know her father.  
But she knew to be careful, to not hand all she was to the man, and kept her mother's name.

**Author's Note:**

> I know these things about Hank Pym:  
> In the comics he hit Janet van Dyne.  
> There was a cartoon where he was a team leader.  
> He had a lot of superhero names.  
> He is kind of generic once you get past the "talks to ants" thing.  
> He has zero powers and skills that Janet van Dyne does not have, and lacks several that Janet van Dyne does have.  
> He was the creator of comics! Ultron, (comics Ultron once possessed Tony Stark and made Tony female in a way that was based off of Janet van Dyne except naked and metallic.)
> 
> This is what I now about Janet van Dyne:  
> she was a member of one the first Avengers team, she came up with the name Avengers because it sounded cool, she knows fashion and science, she does the shrinky-growy thing, the flying thing and the stinging thing, she was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Hank Pym.  
> In the Marvel cinematic universe, she is some place between death, a weird situation, or another dimension, and most of it is "the mom is dead, but like in Miraculous Ladybug with Adrien's mom, we bullshit around it".  
> With any luck, she'll pop up alive, but as she is not a male character, nor one that's had a notable role and rakes in the cash, I doubt it, especially as Hope is there to be the Wasp as a sort of legacy character.  
> (apparently Hope was a supervillain named Red Queen in the comics. and may have a half-sister named Nadia? Or rather, Nadia is movie-Hope translated back into the comics?  
> I have dived too far in comic canon by wiki magic.)
> 
> I am entirely aware that mr. Pym's aversion is most likely a business-genius thing in canon. Nobody likes being the Justin Hammer to a Stark.


End file.
